Abstract:

Flow-based systems are physical systems, such as water distribution systems, oil & gas pipelines, and human cardiovascular systems, that can be modeled as a flow network in which a physical entity, e.g., water, oil or blood, flows through the edges of the network. Observing these critical systems for monitoring and exploration purposes is of paramount importance. This talk highlights the challenges and approaches to study flow-based systems using a Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) approach.  The path towards such a CPS approach faces several research challenges. A CPS has three key components – Communication, Computation, and Control. First, there is a need to encompass the existing technology into an efficient system design (e.g., designing an efficient system design to incorporate mobile wireless sensors moving through water pipelines to monitor Water Distribution Systems). From the communication perspective, traditional networking paradigms may be insufficient to address the challenges in certain environments. From the computation perspective, there is a need to process the information collected and optimize the cost and benefit of monitoring (e.g., minimizing the number of sensors to achieve a sensing coverage). From a controls perspective, the challenge is to take efficient control decisions to achieve a desired performance (e.g., controlling the flow of water to drive sensors to specific regions).  The talk will use Water Distribution Systems as a primary case study and include discussions of on-going efforts in applying the approach to other flow-based systems. 

Bio:

Mahima Agumbe Suresh is an Assistant Professor at San Jose State University. She received her Ph.D from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University in December 2015, advised by Dr. Radu Stoleru. After her Ph.D, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Xerox Research Labs, India, where she worked on crime analytics and process mining. Her research interests include algorithms, protocol design and modeling, and system design for cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things. She has been published in several peer reviewed conferences and journals, and has been a program committee member at several conferences.